


Like A Man

by magicsophicorn



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Wild West AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-14
Updated: 2014-11-14
Packaged: 2018-02-25 09:53:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2617529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicsophicorn/pseuds/magicsophicorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wild West AU - Cowgirl Sheriff Swan and saloon girl Ruby. That's it, that's the plot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like A Man

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the comment on [this gifset](http://tri-xie.tumblr.com/post/97363330141/jinxtergrid-gif-2-that-walk-is-either-cowgirl).

It was high noon and the sun beat mercilessly down on the small group of people gathered in Storybrooke town square.  
  
Sheriff Swan could feel the beads of sweat rolling down the back of her neck.  
  
She just wanted to get this over with.  
  
The man standing opposite her twitched and the Sheriff didn't hesitate. She pulled her pistol from its holster and shot the man square in the chest.  
  
She didn't get to be the Sheriff by losing duels.  
  
Emma sighed as she holstered her gun. Stoorybrooke was usually a pretty quiet mining town, they hardly ever even had visitors, but when they did, well, they always seemed to bring trouble.  
  
Emma might be the best sharp shooter in the west, but that didn't mean she liked killing people.  
  
This guy though, had been a real nasty piece of work. Killian, his name was, and if the reports were to be believed he had been raping and pillaging his way across the sate. It was probably no surprise then that on arriving at this town to find that the Sheriff was a woman he had immediately challenged her to a duel. Normally she wouldn't have bothered, but he had been Wanted: Dead or Alive, so it had seemed like the best way to deal with the scoundrel without causing any unnecessary casualties.  
  
Emma left the town square without bothering to check on her adversary. She trusted Doc and her deputy to sort him out in whatever way was necessary.  
  
Right now she just needed space. Emma swung herself up into the saddle of her horse and rode out of the town.  
  
Riding always helped calm her. The scenery in these parts was truly breathtaking - a mix of arid desert, and soaring mountains. The new frontier. She could see why everyone was so keen to push out west. The gold helped too, of course. Not that she herself was motivated by wealth in the slightest, but she could understand why others were. It certainly made life more comfortable.  
  
Eventually Emma returned to town, she didn't feel much better for her ride so she turned to her other favourite source of comfort - liquor.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Granny's saloon was packed and raucous as usual. Ruby was wearing her usual revealing attire, and after several shots of whiskey Emma could hardly keep her eyes off her.  
  
Her appreciation of the barmaid's legs was interrupted, however, by a drunken man knocking in to the back of Emma's stool, causing her to spill the entire shot of whiskey she'd just been about to down.  
  
A hush fell over the bar. This was one of those moments of anticipation. Everyone had just enough liquor in them that if Emma threw a punch at the guy then the whole bar would no doubt erupt into a brawl. Emma knew this, but she too had had enough liquor, and a bad enough day, to be itching for a good punch up.  
  
Ruby's voice interrupted Emma's thoughts.  
  
"Here darlin' the replacement's on the house," she said, setting a new shot of whiskey in front of the Sheriff, "and as for you Leroy go home, I'm cuttin' you off."  
  
Leroy put up a faint protest but still stumbled out the door of his own accord and the tension in the atmosphere dissipated as the usual sounds of merriment started to once again fill the bar.  
  
Ruby propped her elbows on the bar in front of Emma and rested her chin in her hands.  
  
"You know you don't have to be like a man to get respect, right?" she said. Emma scowled at her.  
  
"All the fightin' and the shootin'… I mean you're good at it, don't misunderstand me, but it just ain't you," Ruby finished with a shrug.  
  
"I'm the Sheriff, Rubes, shootin' and fightin' kinda comes with the territory."  
  
"Yeah I guess. I just hate seeing you so troubled, that's all."  
  
"Thanks Rubes, you're a true sweetheart. But don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Emma stood up to leave.  
  
"Thanks for the drink darlin'" she called over her shoulder as she left the saloon.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A knock on the door roused Emma from her slumber. She must have had more liquor than she thought.  
  
"I'm comin'" she yelled, as she shuffled over to the front door.  
  
On opening the door Emma was greeted by Ruby, smiling radiantly.  
  
"I know it's late Sheriff, but well, I just wanted to check you were alright, is all."  
  
Emma opened her mouth to say that she was fine but found herself instead saying, "would you like to come in?"  
  
Ruby's smile widened.  
  
Emma didn't usually appreciate concern, but somehow coming from Ruby it was touching, rather than patronising. She knew it was unusual for a town to have a woman as a Sheriff, but surely by now she'd been doing this long enough for the town to stop treating her like she couldn't handle it.  
  
Emma's room was small, she lived above the Sheriff's station and didn't have much room for furniture. Ruby sat her herself down on the end of Emma's bed, bounced twice and then laid down looking up at Emma through her lashes.  
  
Emma raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Oh don't look at me like that Sheriff," Ruby drawled, "I much prefer the other way you look at me, you know, when you're imagining me without all these clothes on…"  
  
Emma opened her mouth to protest.  
  
"Oh don't bother denying it Sheriff," Ruby interrupted her, "why don't you come over here and stop imagining it and see it for real…"  
  
Emma smirked as she walked towards the bed.  
  
"I wasn't going to deny it. I was going to say that your outfit could hardly be described as  _all these clothes…_ "  
  
Emma stood by the bed, raking her eyes once again over Ruby's body in her corset. When her eyes reached Ruby's face she saw the woman was grinning wolfishly.  
  
"Well now, is that any way to talk to a lady, Sheriff?" Ruby teased, sitting up and grabbing hold of Emma's shirt, pulling her down on top of her.  
  
Emma grinned.  
  
"Do you really want me to answer that?" She said, before kissing Ruby, not giving her a chance to respond. They would bicker all night if one of them didn't do something, Emma reasoned.  
  
Ruby grinned against her mouth.  
  
This was going to be fun.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Long after the candles had gone out Emma was still awake.  
  
Ruby was lying with her head on Emma's chest, her dark locks tumbling in every direction. Emma stroked her hair absentmindedly.  
  
"I didn't mean it, you know," Ruby murmured, surprising Emma who thought she had been asleep.  
  
"Didn't mean what Rubes?"  
  
"What I said at the bar, that you're like a man. You're nothing like a man. Men don't care when they kill someone. Men don't care about anything at all. They only ever want one thing from me, none of them have ever really cared about me."  
  
Ruby sat up suddenly and in the glow of the moonlight from the window Emma could see her intent expression.  
  
"Do you care about me, Emma?"  
  
Emma reached up to cup Ruby's cheek. She rubbed small circles with her thumb.  
  
"I do, Rubes, I always have."  
  
"Good," Ruby said firmly, "and you know I care about you too, don't you?"  
  
Emma kissed her softly.  
  
"I do, Rubes, I do."


End file.
